Iraq

Official US Military Casualty Count Reaches 70,231 | Compiled by Michael Munk | www.MichaelMunk.com

US military occupation forces in Iraq suffered eight combat casualties in the week ending Dec.16 as the official casualty total rose to at least 70,231. The total includes 34,276 dead and wounded from what the Pentagon classifies as "hostile" causes and more than 35,955 dead and medically evacuated (as of Dec. 6, 2008) from "non-hostile" causes.*

The actual total is over 90,000 because the Pentagon chooses not to count as "Iraq casualties" the more than 20,000 veterans whose injuries-mainly brain trauma from explosions--were diagnosed only after they had left Iraq..**

BAGHDAD (AFP) — The Iraqi cabinet has approved a bill calling for all foreign soldiers except for American forces to pull out of the country by the end of July, a top MP said on Tuesday.

"The cabinet has approved draft legislation on the withdrawal of non-US forces in the coalition," said Hummam Hammudi, chairman of parliament's foreign affairs committee.

"It sets a timetable for a withdrawal of between five and seven months from January 1."

The bill, which has to be passed by parliament, would mainly affect the roughly 4,100 British troops deployed at Basra air base in the south of the country.

London newspapers have reported that Britain intends to begin its withdrawal in March with most troops out by June, although defence officials insist the precise timetable will depend on conditions on the ground at the time.

By Bob Fertik and David Swanson

As George Bush prepares to leave office, he and his aides are trying desperately to rewrite history, especially on Iraq. Nearly six years after invading Iraq on the basis of lies that were manufactured inside the White House, the Bush Administration adamantly insists the lies were all innocent mistakes. Were they?

Originally, the invasion of Iraq was justified primarily on grounds that Iraq had substantial quantities of chemical and biological weapons and had "reconstituted" its nuclear weapons development program, and that it could give terrorists "weapons of mass destruction."

But there was no actual evidence Iraq had such weapons, and the White House knew it.

STOP THE WAR COALITION
NEWSLETTER
No. 1065 16 December 2008
Email office@stopwar.org.uk
T: 020 7278 6694
Web: http://www.stopwar.org.uk

MANY THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS
The Stop War Coalition would like to thank all our
supporters for your anti-war efforts in 2008. Clearly our
work will be as necessary as ever in 2009 and we aim to
redouble our efforts in the cause of peace. Below is an
outline of some of our upcoming activities. Seasonal
greetings to all.

***********************************
IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
1) SHOE PROTEST AT US EMBASSY
2) AFGHANISTAN -- LEARNING NOTHING FROM IRAQ
3) ANTI-WAR CAMPAIGNING IN 2009
4) CAGE PRISONERS TOUR
5) STOP THE WAR ANNUAL CONFERENCE MARCH 14-15
6) COUNTDOWN TO OBAMA APPEAL

By Dahr Jamail, Extra! Magazine

The New York Times failed spectacularly in its coverage of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, helping lead the country into war and only much later (5/26/04) publishing a half-hearted mea culpa. As the near-apology acknowledged, the paper's failure resulted in large part from its lack of skepticism regarding its sources, most notably exiled Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi.

Despite the mea culpa, though, the Times continues to mislead on Iraq, particularly on the issue of whether or not Iraqis want the U.S. military to exit their country. Once again, that journalistic failure seems to be rooted in the same fundamental problem of overconfidence in the paper's sources and ignoring the obvious contradictory evidence.

By Jodie Evans, CODEPINK

Today members of CODEPINK disrupted the Iraq ambassador to the United States holding signs in the audience reading "Free al-Zaidi," "al-Zaidi speaks for me," to show their support for the reporter who threw the shoes at George W and to express their concern about his physical state. He has been beaten badly and has no access to an attorney.

We will be delivering a petition for people who agree with the anti-war sentiment behind al-Zaidi's shoe-throwing action and call for his release (see and sign it here). We'll go to the Iraqi Embassy in D.C. daily to demand al-Zaidi's release and we will gather with shoes Wednesday outside the White House with several other groups, including Iraq Veterans Against War. Other CODEPINK groups around the country will be doing actions at Federal Buildings.

By Cindy Sheehan

"I'm not insulted. I don't hold it against the government. The guy wanted to get on TV and he did. I don't know what his beef is, but whatever it is, I'm sure someone will hear it."
George Bush to ABC News after Iraqi Journalist, Muntazar al-Zaidi threw two shoes at him

I have vacillated over the past 8 years on whether George Bush is the stupidest man in the world, or the evilest. I think that the above statement may prove that he is both. He seriously does not know what al-Zaidi's "beef" is? Does George really believe that his cause was "Noble" and that the Iraqis should be grateful to that "dog" for destroying their country and killing over a million people?

Cheney: Iraq had 'every intention' of resuming WMD program
By Andy Barr | Politico.com

Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday defended the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq in March 2003, claiming that then-President Saddam Hussein had “every intention” of resuming production of weapons of mass destruction once United Nations sanctions were lifted.

Former White House Adviser Karl Rove said last week that if pre-war intelligence on the Iraqi WMD programs had been accurate, the United States likely would not have entered the war. But asked about Rove’s comment during an interview with ABC News Monday, Cheney said “I disagree with that.”

The Legal Advice to Wage War on Iraq was not just "sexed-up", it was concocted
by C. Stephen Frost

Note: C. Stephen Frost, Mary Bedworth, Christopher Burns-Cox and David Halpin co-signed this article, in response to an article by Richard Norton Taylor in The Guardian and a Guardian editorial (see Annex below).

Background on the scandal of the twice-changed legal advice of the British Attorney General, which purported to allow the United Kingdom, and thereby the United States (together with Australia, Denmark and Poland), to wage an aggressive and illegal war on Iraq. This war is the "supreme international war crime" according to the the Nuremberg Protocol and the Geneva Conventions.

By Eric Owles, NY Times

Update | 11:05 a.m. BAGHDAD - An American military patrol in Najaf on Monday was pelted by shoes thrown by supporters of Moktada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric. In Tikrit, journalists demonstrated in support of the Iraqi reporter who threw his shoes at President Bush during a news conference yesterday. And across Iraq, everyone seemed to have an opinion of the flying footwear incident.

Hitting someone with a shoe is a strong insult in Iraq. It means the person is as low as the dirt underneath the sole of a shoe, and the actions of Muntader al-Zaidi, a correspondent for an independent Iraqi television station, were condemned by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, the Iraqi government and other reporters at the news conference. Mr. Bush was unhurt and made a joke afterward, but the shoes have overshadowed other news coverage of the trip, including an attempt to showcase the new security agreement.

Here is reaction from around Iraq:

Please join CODE PINK: Women for Peace, AfterDowningStreet, and Democrats.com this Wednesday, December 17, 2008, in Washington, D.C., at Lafayette Square Park in front of the White House. We will have with us a large supply of shoes. We encourage you to bring your old shoes as well. Come rally with us in solidarity with the Iraqi people to demand an immediate and complete end to the occupation of Iraq.

Commander: Some US troops to stay in Iraqi cities
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press

BALAD, Iraq – Despite a summer deadline to pull American combat troops from urban areas, thousands will stay in cities to support and train Iraqis, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said Saturday.

Even with the mandate in the recently approved U.S.-Iraq security agreement, there have been suggestions some troops would not leave urban areas. But Gen. Raymond Odierno was the first military leader to acknowledge some forces would remain at local security stations, as training and mentoring teams.

"We believe we should still be inside those after the summer," he said the sprawling U.S. base in Balad, north of Baghdad before welcoming Defense Secretary Robert Gates on a brief visit.

Call for his release and tribute to Iraqis who have suffered under US occupation

WHAT: Peace activists to gather with shoes in solidarity to Iraqi journalist
WHEN: 11 a.m., Weds. Dec. 17
WHERE: In front of White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In solidarity with an Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George W. Bush at a Baghdad press conference Sunday, peace activists will gather outside the White House with bags of shoes representing Iraqis and U.S. soldiers who have died since the Bush Administration's illegal invasion of Iraq.

They aim to show support for Iraqi journalist Muntader al-Zaidi, who hurled his shoes at President Bush while he spoke at the conference on his "surprise" visit to discuss the war. Al-Zaidi is currently being held by Iraqi police and questioned on his actions. The peace activists are calling on the Iraqi government to release al-Zaidi without charges and have set up a fund to support him and his family."

By BBC

Thousands of Iraqis have demanded the release of a local TV reporter who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush at a Baghdad news conference.

Crowds gathered in Baghdad's Sadr City district, calling for "hero" Muntadar al-Zaidi to be freed from custody.

Officials at the Iraqi-owned TV station, al-Baghdadiya, called for the release of their journalist, saying he was exercising freedom of expression.

Iraqi officials have described the incident as shameful.

A statement released by the government said Mr Zaidi's actions, which also included him shouting insults at President Bush, "harmed the reputation of Iraqi journalists and Iraqi journalism in general".

Correspondents say the protesters are supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr - a leading critic of the US presence in Iraq. Smaller protests were reported in Basra and Najaf.

By Dave Lindorff

When Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi heaved his two shoes at the head of President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad, he did something that the White House press corps should have done years ago.

By David Swanson

This is the question now raised in Iraq: If they throw shoes at your face are you a combat troop or a noncombat troop? The answer may be important in helping to guide President Elect Obama's strategy of reducing but continuing the genocidal occupation that has made a shoeless journalist one of the most beloved, if little known, people in the world overnight.

A related dilemma is this: If shoes become weapons, were the metal detectors, searches, and bribes to phony journalists successful? This strikes me as a similar question to the following: if box cutters become weapons, were the nuclear arsenal, the missile offense shield, and the empire of bases successful?

By Reuters

BAGHDAD - An Iraqi reporter called visiting U.S. President George W. Bush a "dog" in Arabic on Sunday and threw his shoes at him during a news conference in Baghdad.

Iraqi security officers and U.S. secret service agents leapt at the man and dragged him struggling and screaming out of the room where Bush was giving a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

The shoes missed their target about 15 feet (4.5 metres) away. One sailed over Bush's head as he stood next to Maliki and smacked into the wall behind him. Bush smiled uncomfortably and Maliki looked strained.

"It doesn't bother me," Bush said, urging everyone to calm down as a ruckus broke out in the conference room.

When asked about the incident shortly after, Bush made light of it. "I didn't feel the least threatened by it," he said.

Other Iraqi journalists apologised on behalf of their colleague, a television journalist.

Bush arrived in Baghdad earlier on Sunday on a farewell visit before he leaves office in January. The U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein triggered years of sectarian bloodshed and insurgency in Iraq, killing tens of thousands.

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There are too many shoes on American journalistic feet!

Dear Senator Obama, President Elect of the United States,

Since 2007 the US military has provided military intelligence and opened Iraqi air space to Turkish forces along the northern border of the Kurdish Regional Governorate for operations against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party). Because of these military incursions, thousands of civilian villagers have been displaced, many killed or wounded, and a great many endure inadequate and deplorable living situations.

Members of our organization, Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), an NGO with offices based in Chicago and Toronto, have been living and working in the Kurdish North of Iraq for over two years, and for four years before that, in Baghdad. We have had regular contact with the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and local Kurdish NGOs that have assisted these Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

WHO: The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore was formed for individuals willing to engage in nonviolent civil resistance to first prevent and later to protest the war in Iraq. It is affiliated with several national peace groups, including the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR] and United For Peace & Justice.

NCNR organized a theatrical event on March 12 inside the gallery of the U.S. Senate. Three members of the Baltimore Pledge, Maria Allwine, Ellen Barfield and Max Obuszewski, joined with Tim Chadwick, Joy First, Judith Kelly, Art Landis, Linda LeTendre, Manijeh Saba and Eve Tetaz as the Ghosts of the Iraq War.

DEMOCRACY NOW!

A US soldier who went absent without leave a year and a half ago to avoid returning to Iraq has applied for asylum in Germany. Specialist Andre Shepherd served in Iraq between September 2004 and February 2005 as an Apache helicopter mechanic. When his unit was called up to return to Iraq in early 2007, he went AWOL to avoid redeployment, calling the war "illegal." He lived underground in Germany for a year and a half before applying for asylum two weeks ago. We speak with Shepherd in his first international broadcast interview.

Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/12/12/exclusiveawol_us_soldier_seeks_as...

By Bruce Ackerman and Oona Hathaway, The Guardian UK

Obama must return US foreign policy to the rule of law - and the mandate for war is about to expire.

Hillary Clinton's first task as US secretary of state will be to defuse the legal time-bomb that the Bush administration has set up in Iraq. Up to now, the military occupation has been authorised annually by the UN. But now the administration plans to let the UN mandate expire on December 31, and replace it with a new "status of forces agreement" recently approved by the Iraqi parliament.

By Steve Fox, American Freedom Campaign Action Fund

The document parading around as the U.S.-Iraq agreement is not valid under the U.S. Constitution. Its legitimacy is based solely on the silence of lawmakers (and members of the media), who seem to be paralyzed by the fear of having an independent and intelligent opinion. Fortunately, one lawmaker has broken the silence and has acknowledged the truth before everyone's eyes.

It is now time for others, including you, to join their voices with hers.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the pending U.S.-Iraq agreement, decrying the fact that the Iraqi Parliament was being given the opportunity to vote on whether to approve the agreement while Congress was being denied - and was refusing to fight for - the same opportunity.

Well, thanks to our efforts and the leadership of Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), the U.S. House of Representatives may finally get to voice its opinion on President Bush's unconstitutional usurpation of Congress's legislative power.

Yesterday, Rep. Lee introduced a resolution related to the U.S.-Iraq agreement, inspired in part by AFC's call for a "signing statement" resolution. The primary purpose of this resolution is to express the sense of the House that President Bush does not have the power under the Constitution to negotiate and sign such a far-reaching agreement with another nation without seeking congressional approval of the agreement.

Passage of this resolution -- most likely following re-introduction in January -- will send a message to the Bush administration, the incoming Obama administration, and the rest of the world that the agreement holds no legal weight under U.S. law and will be considered merely advisory by Congress.

In truth, even without passage of this resolution, Congress shall not be bound by its terms. No president can unilaterally commit $10 billion per month in U.S. treasure to keep our troops in another nation. The United States has never been a monarchy or a dictatorship and we are certainly not going to accept any similar kind of system today.

Putting aside the question over whether this agreement is currently binding or not, it is important that as many lawmakers as possible openly reject the constitutionality of the agreement. So please tell your U.S. representative to co-sponsor, support, and vote for Rep. Lee's signing statement resolution (H.Res. 1535) by clicking HERE.

Iraq expects its hydrocarbons law to be approved by the second quarter of 2009, a senior government figure in Baghdad said
10 Aralık 2008 Çarşamba 21:46

The news comes as the fourth draft of the Iraqi oil legislation is currently being prepared.

Former Iraqi oil minister, Thamir Ghadhban told MEED that the current draft needs final agreement but has been accepted by the Iraqi Council of Ministers.

"That is significant in that it shows it is moving ahead," says Ghadhban who is also the current adviser to the Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. "I expect the hydrocarbons law to be in place by spring 2009."

International oil firms have earlier expressed anxiety that the first oil exploration round, which is currently being held by the Iraqi Oil Ministry, could face difficulties without new legislation.

By Michael Munk

US military occupation forces in Iraq suffered 21 combat casualties casualties in the week ending Dec.9 as the official casualty total rose sharply to at least 70,223. The total includes 34,268 dead and wounded from what the Pentagon classifies as "hostile" causes and more than 35,955 dead and medically evacuated (as of Dec. 6) from "non-hostile" causes.*

The actual total is over 90,000 because the Pentagon chooses not to count as "Iraq casualties" the more than 20,000 veterans whose injuries-mainly brain trauma from explosions-- were diagnosed only after they had left Iraq..**